
Glass. ^ '^ ^"^ 
Book_^XCV 



riii; i'ROBABLE DLSTINY OV uUR CuUNlRV , I lli; KlAtl/iol'l'Ei 

TO ['ULIIL THAT DESTINY; AND Til!'. DI'TV OF 

GEORGIA IN THE I'REMISES : 



i^^ A)S)T^m.mm 



BEFORE THE 



I^ill BEIjTA ANS» eii^i^liOmiAN socijeties 



OF 



MERCER UNIVERSITY, 



DELIVERED ON 'J'llE 1 ItII OF .lULY, A. D, 1847. 



^^ 



OlA 



BY ^ \oO. 

llONOKAKY MEMBER OF THE CICERONIAN SOCIETY, 




PENFIELD 

PRINTED AT THE TEMPERANCE BANNER OinCE, 

1847 






CicEEONTAN IIalt,, JuIy Mill, ISi?. 
On motion of Col J. B. Walkek, 

Ecsolvcd, That llie llianks of the Ciceronian Society be tendered (o llic 
ilon. II. V. Johnson, for the al)le and inlcrcstinp; Address delivered by him, 
this dav, before the two Literary Societies of this University, and that a Com- 
uiittee be apiiointcd to request a copy for imblication. 

In pursuance of the above resolution, the undersigned. Committee of the 
Ciceronian Society, tender you the thaiilis of that body, and respectfully solicit 
a copy of your Address for publication. 

Very respectfully, 

HENRY M. IIOLTZCLAW, ) 



lion. II. V. Johnson. 



Gentlemen: 



GEORGE T. WILBURN, \ Com. 
JOHN F. DAGG, ) 



Penfield, Ga., July 15th, 1847 



I have received your note of yesterday, covering a resolution 
of the Ciceronian Society, tendering the thanks of that body for the manner 
m which they arc pleased to say, I discharged the duty assigned me of deli- 
vering the Commencement Address before the two Literary Societies of Mer- 
cer University, and requesting a copy of the same for publication. 

It is gratifying to me to learn that my poor services were acceptable. — 
Were I to consult my own inclination, however, I should not hesitate to de- 
cline to permit the Aildress to be printed ; but it is really the property of the 
Society, and I feel that I am not entirely at liberty to 'forbid their making 
such disposition of it, as they may consider expedient. It is, therefore, here- 
with handed to you, with all its imperfections. 

With my best wishes for your individual happiness and the prosperity of 
»hc Ciceronian Society, 

1 am. Gentlemen, 

Your obedient servant, 

II. V JOHNSON. 
Messrs. Henry M. Holtzclaw, ) 

George T. Wilburn, > Voiamiltcc ' 

John V Daou, j 



ADDRESS, &.C. 



This is a great country. — Great in the ann)litLido oi her 
diversified, luxuriant and J!;r*^wing territory; great in the 
magnificent proportions and comj>rehcnsivc designs of her 
political, civil and social organization ; great in the transcen- 
dent glory of her probable destiny. 

Her surface extends from the forty-ninth parallel of North 
latitude, to the tropic shores of the gulf of Mexico, and from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific wave. It embraces every variety 
of soil and climate, yields every product needful for the com- 
fort, sustenance and luxurious enjoyment of man, and abounds 
with every material requisite to give scope to every enterprise 
within the boundless range of human pursuit. It is traversed 
in every direction, by the most magnificent rivers, sweeping 
in silent majesty for thousands of miles, now through virgin 
forests, now through waving fields, bearing upon their bosoms 
the freighted messengers of commerce. It contains exhaust- 
less stores of mhieral wealth, — iron, tin, copper, lead, zinc, coal, 
marble, granite, silver and gold : and teams with a thousand 
bubbling fountains, whose healing waters repair the ravages 
of disease, and restore the bloom of health to the wan cheek 
of afllicted humanity. It is diversified with an endless variety 
oi hill and plain, mountain and valley, awakening in the bosom 
of the enraptured spectator, the loftiest inspirations of poetry 
and eloquence. It is canopied by as lovely a sky as ever 
charmed the gaze of the Mantuan bard, and is fanned by as 
sweetly scented zephyrs as ever awoke the melody of Tasso's 
lyre. This landscape, with its amplitude of dimensions, its 
exuberant variety of beauty and grandeur ;. this landscape, 
which far surpasses the Elysinm of which Diodorous and Plato 
dreamed ; this landscape, where 

* * * * "Natnre show'cl 
The last ascending footsteps of the God," 

is our country — " our own, our native land." 

Our political organization does not differ in its elementary 
powers from all others. Every government, whatever its 
form, — whether aristocratic, monarchical or democratic, — 
must possess the law-making, the law-expounding and the 
law-executing functions. It must have its legislative, judicial 
and executive departments. These are the constituent attri- 
butes of sovereignty; and the character of a government is 
determined by the depository with which they are lodged. — 
Hence the grand feature of difference between our govern- 
ment and others, consists in the transfer of sovereignty from 



the King or tlie aristocracy, lo the people. Tlie democratic- 
principle is also modified by that of representation, which in 
our system, approximates nearer perfection, — that is to say. 
the re])resentative more laithfully reflects the Avill of his con- 
stituency — than in any o1 her government that has ever existed. 
Again: the federal character of our Republic has no prece- 
dent on the fde of nations. It is peculiar, also, in its mode of 
choosing those who are the immediate agents for the exercise 
of its functions. J\ either the time nor the occasion would jus- 
tify a laliored consideration of these characteristic features. — 
It is sufilcient, however, to observe, that they are but manifes- 
tations of the popular principle and developments of the me- 
thod of its operation in our political system — how it enters in- 
to all its ramifications, from the duties of a district Constable, 
up to the (Jhief Magistracy of the Union. 

What wonders has this distinguishing feature of our govern- 
ment wrought, and is destined still to work, uj)on the prospects 
of man and the fate of emijires ! It has confounded the old 
doctrine of the " Divine right of Kings." It is rapidly sweep- 
ing away the ancient landmarks between the favored classes 
and the lower walks of society; and it must transform the po- 
litical, social and moral condition of the world. Its essential 
ingredient is the equality of all men. Nor does it contemplate 
this equalization, by humbling those who arc elevated to a level 
with those of inferior rank, but by lifting those that are de- 
pressed, to a height as lofty as that of the most exalted. The 
old despotisms of Europe are erected upon this degradation of 
the masses. The titled and honored by birth, are not great in 
tlie abstract, but in comparison only with tltose whom their 
odious system of government oppresses. Here, there is no ti- 
tled nobility; but all are noblemen who practice the virtues 
and discharge the duties of A-merican freemen. Here, there 
is no hereditary line to political honor, or literary distinction; 
but fame throws wide the portals of her "proud temple," and 
stands ready to crown alike, with her cha})let of green, every 
votary who makes his toilsome ])ilgrimage to her shrine. The 
cflect of all this is, to inspire self-respect, impart personal dig- 
nity, and stimulate all the faculties of the mind. 

Another remarkable observation of our popular i)rinciple is, 
that it constitutes public opinion the arbiter of every question. 
This august tribunal is composed of all the people, and every 
man has an etpial voice in its deliberations. Before it are dis- 
cussed the most important measures of public policy; the most 
abstruse principles of science, and the most momentous doc- 
trines of ethics. From its decisions, there is no ultimate ap- 
peal, lis decrees are irresistable, and its errors can only be 
corrected bv the enliii'hteninc: influences of lime nnd reflection 



Who can estimate its probable effects upon the character and 
destiny of this country and the world? It unshackles con- 
science, thought, speech, the press; and, consequently, gives 
birth to eloquence, I'orni and power to argument; opens an 
arena for the exercise of the noblest energies and loftiest 
enterprises, and enlarges llio (ield of" literature and science. 

It were not diHicuit, if left to conjecture, to foresee the fruits 
of a political and social organism, based on such principles and 
permitted to operate on such materials, in the direction of its 
legitimate tendencies. But the experience of more than half 
a century is realizing the hopes and expectations of the wise 
and benevolent founders of our government. That which was 
the bright anticipation of the future to them, has become happy 
reality to us. Instead of thirteen States, enfeebled and worn 
down by the struggles of the revolution, inhabited by three 
millions of people sparcely scattered over their territory, the 
Confederacy is now composed of twenty-nine flourishing States, 
which sustain a population of twenty millions, and present to 
the world a spectacle of enterprise and prosperity, in the ca- 
reer of national greatness, unparalleled in the annals of the 
world. The aborigines fade before the march of civilization; 
the wild and boundless forests which they traversed in the 
untamed freedom of savage pursuits, give place to smiling 
fields and populous cities; and the thundering torrent, to 
whose genius of winds and storms, they knelt in blind adora- 
tion, now lends its current to the wants of commerce and the 
arts of cultivated society. Science and religion have reared 
their thousand temi^les ; poetry and philosophy have their 
votaries; and eloquence, from the animated lips of our states- 
men and divines, pleads the cause of human freedom and tlie 
claims of heavenly revelation. Our friendship is already 
courted by the proudest governments of Europe ; our com- 
merce, protected by our stars and stripes, whitens every sea; 
and our prowess in arms, commands the respect of all nations, 
and strikes with unspeakable awe the incumbents of despotic 
thrones. Thus far we have demonstrated the capacity of 
man for self-government, and, by the successful operation of 
the popular principle, have dealt a death-blow to oppression. 
Who then, if the past throws any light upon the developments 
of the future, can doubt the glory of our country's destiny ? 
" Who shall say for what purpose a mysterious Providence 
•• may not have designed her ? Who shall say that, when, in 
" its follies or its crimes, the old world shall have interred all 
"the pride of its power or the pomp of its civilization, human 
•' nature may not find its destined renovation in the new ?" 

Nor is it ascribing too much wisdom and foresight to oui 
pohtical fathers, to suppose that they contemplated such sub- 



liinc results,. As if animated with the inspiration of projthetic 
visions, tlicy looked far down the vista of the future, and caui^lu 
enrapturing glimpses of a continent consecrated to free insti- 
tutions and destined by Providence to be the theatre on which 
should be wrought out the redemption of man from the fetters 
of darkness in which his intellect and conscience had been 
bound for ages ; th,e broad arena in which should be exhibited 
the developments of the highest civilization and the happiest 
manifestations of the social state. It was for this, they laid 
broad and deep the foundations of our republican institutions, 
interwove into their structure the great cardinal principles 
of equality and popular sovereignty, and breathed into the 
wonderful fabric the life-giving spirit of religious toleration. 
Prior to the discovery and settlement of America, the old 
world, as now, was crowded with a dense population, polluted 
in their religion, depraved in their morals and oppressed by 
the yoke of tyranny. Their temples were profaned, their al- 
tars desecrated and their worship stained with idolatry and 
superstition. Our ancestors sought a refuge from these evils 
and liitherward, by a well-ordered train of providential events, 
were borne. They came, — the Bible, their chart, freedom^^ 
their motto, this magnificent continent, their temple, and their 
Divinity, God. Every object in their new home awakened fresh 
devotion and kindled the inspiration of a holier love ; and here 
in this virgin soil, untouched by the heel of the oppressor, they 
planted and watered with the tears of piety, the seeds of reli- 
gion, literature and freedom, for the healing of the untold mil- 
lions who shall throng these Western shores. Then, shall not 
Heaven perfect what, through the instrumentality of these 
pious pilgrims, was begun in the fervor of filial faith, animated 
and encouraged by His benignant smiles ? 

The design of God, in reference to the future glory of our 
country, is unequivocal to the mind of the christian philoso- 
pher who believes in the sublime doctrine, that the hairs of 
our heads are all numbered. Upon any other supposition, 
how inscrutable and apparently unwise are His dealings to- 
wards the aboriginal tribes of this continent ! Behold how 
rapidly they disappear before the progress of the Anglo-Ame- 
rican race ! From the evidences of the past, there is strong 
probability that they are doomed to extinction. Having hith- 
erto almost entirely resisted efforts for their civilization, and 
eschewed social incorporation with the whiteman, they must, 
while they persist in such a policy, continue to recede before 
ills aj)proaches, until finally the blaze of their council fires shall 
ex{)ire in the darkness of tolnl extermination. Like us, they 
;ire creMtures of God, made in his image, a. id endowed 
niih iuIcIKm-i, TIk.'V are u liravc ;uhI luirdv n\rQ u\\<\ lliev 



possess many, though savage virtues. But they refuse to 
cultivate the earth, which is the first great law of civilization ; 
and tiiey roam the forest, wild as the game they chase in pur- 
suit of subsistence. Ignorant of the true God, they worship 
their Great Spirit, as he whispers in the breeze, roars in the 
cataract, or thunders in the storm. It is not, therefore, for the 
mere purpose of exchanging one race for another, that the In- 
dian tribes are thus permitted by the Divine Being, to be d^'i- 
ven before the mighty tide of white population. This were 
unworthy his wisdom and beneficence. But it is to substitute 
civilization, in all its beauty, excellence and glory, for barbar- 
ism, in all its cruelty, deformity and degradation. It was for 
this, that the infant colonies, in their weakness and paucity of 
resources, were shielded against the daring intrepidity, or the 
ambushed assassinations of these fierce and numerous nations. 
It is for this, that their title to the soil has been gradually ex- 
tinguished, by treaty stipulations, to meet the emergencies of 
increasing population. It is for this, that in all our border con- 
tests, since the formation of our government, our arms have 
been victorious and our savage neighbors awed into respect 
for rights which they did not recognise. 

Some physiolo'gists ascribe this change of population to a 
law of nature, which indicates a vegetable diet as the proper 
food of man. Fowler illustrates the idea thus: — "A 
" given amount of territory will sustain probably a thousand 
" Anglo-Americans by agriculture, to one Indian by the chase. 
" Suppose the earth already stocked with human beings — shall 
" this one Indian be allowed to engross what would support a 
" thousand human beings better than he is sustained 1 If the 
" Indian would be content with his thousandth part of his ter- 
" ritory, let him remain ; but he has no right to interrupt the 
"existence of nine hundred and ninety-nine human beings, still 
" better capacitated to enjoy life than himself. Hence, nature 
" has so ordained it, that the Indian shall recede before the 
"march of civilization, unless he incorporates himself with it ; 
" because a vegetable diet can sustain so many more happy 
'■•" beings than tlie savage state."* This, however, does *iot 
conflict with, but rather confirms what has been observed, re- 
lative to the design of Providence, in the substitution of the 
white for the redman on this continent. It explains the ra- 
tionale of the process; but the Creator u-i still the author of 
that law, by whose agency it is accomplished. The order oi 
the solar system is preserved by the laws ol centripetal and 
centrifugal forces. But God endowed those nnmense masses ot 
matter with these regulating principles, and He is, therefore as 

'Fowler's riiyaiology, p 86 



emphatically the author of the motions ol llie planetis, as il he 
controlled their revolutions without any inlermediate and se- 
condary agencies. »So it is in relerencc to the gradual disap- 
pearance of the North-Amcjican Indians. If the ordinance 
of nature by which Dr. Fowler seeks to explain the fact, does 
indeed exist, it is the established instrumentaly by which, the 
Supreme Ruler operates, for the accomplishment of iiis wise 
ajid benevolent purposes. Therefore, 

* * * " Another race lias fill'd 
" Those populous borders — wide the wood recedes 
" And towns shoot up, and fertile realms are till'd ; 
" The land is full of harvests and green meads." 

The character of the settlers and the time of the permanent 
settlement of this country are remarkable. They were no( 
the subjects, the degraded odc.asts of Spain and Portugal, who 
knew no liberty but what a gloomy despotism tolerates. If it had 
been by such, that the seeds of civilization were planted in the 
new world, how different might have been our condition to- 
day ? Instead of reposing under the a3gis of a government 
which guarantees equal rights, and secures freedom of speech 
and consceience, we miglit have been yoked to a tyranny 
whose onerous exactions would be limited only by our ability to 
indure. But they were Britons ; emigrants from a country 
whose people were more virtuous, more intelligent, and better 
acquainted with the true nature of pohtical institutions, than 
any portion of civilized Europe. They came just at the time 
also, when the Puritans had laid the foundations of English 
hberty, on the ruins of that tyranny which characterised the 
reigns of Henry and Elizabeth. Was it the result of accident 
or benevolent design, that the most suitable men and the most 
propitious time were chosen for the permanent settlement of 
these Colonies and planting those principles of rational liberty 
which should elevate and bless unborn millions ? It were in- 
gratitude and infidelity to Heaven to deny his special agency 
in these striking events — events calculated to change the tide 
of empire and redeem the world. Washington seems to have 
be^n deeply impressed with this same fact. He saitl, "The 
"foundation of our empire was not laid in the gloomy age of 
" ignorance and superstition, but at an epoch when the rights 
" of mankind were better understood."* 

In the circumstances and events of the American Revolu- 
tion, the hand of Providence is distinctly seen. Who can 
contemplate its thrilling incidents and iiiil to be impressed, that 
God presided over the arms of our fathers, enlightened their 
councils, and inspired their patriotism '>. They drew the 
sword in weakness, almost destitute of clothing, arms, ammu- 

* Vid. Letter to the Governors of the States, 5th vol. Marsh, p. 43. 



9 

niiion, without discipline, without a navy, and without an ally 
among tlie family of nations. They " assumed the front of 
" war against a nation, one of the most formidable in the world! 
" A nation, ready and armed at all points ! Her navies riding 
'• triumphant in every sea ; her armies never marching, but to 
" certain victory."* Yet, on almost every battle field from 
Lexington to Yorktown, American arms were victorious, 
and the Lion quailed before the burning eye of the un- 
daunted Eagle. The immortal Henry spoke truly when he 
said "the battle is not to the strong;" and there was prophe- 
cy, as well as faith, in the rapture of his fervid eloquence, when 
he exclaimed, "Sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. — 
*' There is a just God, who presides over the destiny of nations, 
" and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us." — 
The prediction was fulfilled, and in due time France, stimula- 
ted by the chivalry and disinterested generosity of the gallant 
La Fayette, came to our rescue. Washington, by the same 
Power.that commissioned Joshua, at the head of the hosts of 
Israel to conquer Palestine, was endowed with the lofty quali- 
ties of mind and heart, to lead our armies successfully. Wise 
in council, profound in design, energetic but judicious in exe- ' 
cution, and brave without being rash, he secured the confi- 
dence of officers and soldiery ; so that he was blessed with 
the rare faculty of quieting discontents, suppressing mutiny 
and inspiring his troops with patience and fortitude to endure 
the untold hardships and sufferings of the protracted conffict. 
The period immediately preceding the adoption of our Fed- 
eral Constitution, is remarkable in the annals of our govern- 
ment. The Articles of Confederation having failed to realize 
the design of their authors, the United States, in the language 
of Judge Willson, presented to the world " the first instance 
" of a nation, unattacked by external force, unconvulsed by 
"internal insurrections, assembling voluntarily, deliberating 
" fully and deciding calmly, concerning the system of govern- 
" ment under which they would wish themselves and their 
" posterity to hve."t The history of the times shows what 
differences of opinion prevailed among our ablest statesmen, 
as to the provisions of a new Constitution, and with what bit- 
terness and asperity they were expressed and advocated. In 
May, 1787, the Convention assembled, composed of the wisest 
and best men of the day, — such as Washington and Madison, 
Willson and Pinckney, Hamilton and Franklin, Baldwin and 
Morris, — and continued in session nearly four months, deliber- 
ating on the details of a Constitution for the government of the 

* Vid. Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry, p. 118. 
tVid. Eloq. U. States, vol 1, p. 6, 7. 



10 

United States. Wliat a crisis of intense interest, of incalcula- 
ble moment was this, to the destiny of this continent and the 
hopes of the world ! Lycm'gus and Solon successively gave 
laws to Sparta, Romulus and Numa to Rome, — territories 
smaller in extent than that of Georgia; and for this, their 
names have been borne upon the tide of history, crown- 
ed with the praises of poetry and eloquence. But it was left 
for the founders of our government to organize a system for a 
continent, equal to one-fourth of the habitable globe ; and that 
too, without a single model based upon the federal representa- 
tive principle in the annals of the world. He who will read 
the debates of that august assembly, consider the variety of 
plans and amendments that were offered, and the ability with 
which they were advocated, must be amazed at the ultimate 
unanimity with which, our present Constitution was adopted. 
It received the signature and sanction of every member except 
Randolph, Mason and Gerry.* Whence this spirit of harmo- 
ny, conciliation and compromise? Why this surrender of con- 
flicting opinions and favorite plans ? Has the world ever seen, 
since the august assembly of Westminster Divines, such large 
and free offerings upon the altar of the common good? 

But this Constitution was yet to be ratified, by nine out of 
the thirteen States, before it became obligatory on those that 
might ratify it. What a momentous crisis ! What consequen- 
ces were suspended upon the issue ! To reject the new Con- 
stitution, was either to fall back upon their separate sovereign- 
ty, as independent States, or upon the Articles of Confedera- 
tion. The former was forbidden by the sad lessons of history, 
which teach that small contiguous and separate States have 
never existed long without collisions, which ultimately termi- 
nated in their subversion or subjugation. The latter was 
equally repugnant to what the circumstances indicated to be a 
safe policy ; for public confidence in the Confederation being 
shaken, it would certainly prove less eflicient for the purposes 
of government, than past experience had already demonstra- 
ted. We can conceive that a body of men like those compos- 
ing the Convention — intelligent, prudent and patriotic — might 
harmonize ; but how fearful the question when offered to the 
decision of the people, jealous of their rights and reluctant to 
delegate new and enlarged powers to the general government? 

To increase the dangers of a successful result, France, at 
this period, was struggling for ])opular government, stimulated 
by the example of these States ; and her failure terminated 
in the horrid scenes of her bloody revolution. She had the 
warm sympathies of our people, both in her efforts at liberty and 

*Viil. 3Iudisou Papas, vol. 3d., p. U2-L. 



11 

ill iier liostility to England. But her revolutionary spirit ne- 
ver visited these shores, and alter calm and deliberate reflec- 
tion, the people of the several States adopted the new Consti- 
tution, and called Washington from his retirement to conduct 
its administration. Was all this the result of chance? — 
Was it chance that guided the deliberations of the Conven- 
tion to wise conclusions ? — that preserved the popular mind 
from fatal dissention ? — that influenced the States to adopt, 
link by hnk, this golden chain which unites them in the 
bonds of political fraternity ? — that neutralized the influences 
of the French Revolution, and that shielded our country in the 
infancy of her strength, from the demon-spirit of Atheism, 
which convulsed that nation with volcanic throes and scattered 
far and wide its burning lava, that threatened to consume all 
that had been achieved by Christianity for ages? No, no. — 
Every patriotic and pious heart, in the fullness of its grateful 
emotions, adopts the language of Israel's minstrel, " This is 
the Lord's doing : it is marvellous in our eyes."* 

The same beneficent Providence has led us, as a nation, in 
each succeeding step of progress, down to the present time; 
shed victory upon our colors in the war of 1812; tamed the 
rage of popular fury, when the storm spirit of party has per- 
vaded the land; preserved us from disunion, amid the earth- 
quake agitations of the Missouri Compromise and South-Caro- 
lina Nullification; — and maintained our peace with England, 
through the successful negotiations of our North-Eastern and 
North- Western boundaries. 

There is much, too, in the progress of scientific improve- 
ment, to impress our minds with the design of Providence, in 
reference' to our country. The Mariner's Compass and the 
art of Printing have wrought wonders. The one gave this 
Continent, and the other, the Reformation to the world. The 
one is the handmaid of commerce; the other, the messenger of 
intelligence. The one navigates the ocean of waters; the 
other, the ocean of mind. But it was reserved for the genius 
of the United States, to append to these mighty instruments of 
human progress wings, that they might fiy. This has been 
done by the discovery of the application of steam power to ma- 
chinery, and of the Magnetic Telegraph. Without these, it would 
seem, the march of civilization were too slow; time and space 
must be annihilated. A few years ago, it required months to 
perform the voyage of the Atlantic, from an American to an 
European port; and he who embarked took leave of friends 
and kindred and home, with a sadness indicative of the uncer- 
tainty of ever again returning to their embraces. None went, 

*Vid. Psalms, cxviii, v. 23. 



12 

except in obedience to the call of business or duty. Bnt now 
a few days complete it in safety, and trips of pleasure are far 
more frequent, than were formerly those of business. A few 
years ago, it required weeks to communicate intelligence from 
New- York to New-Orleans; now, by the aid of steam, it is 
accomplished in a less number of days; and, by the aid of the 
Magnetic Telegraph, will very soon be accomplished in a less 
number of minutes. Now, the difficulty of intercommunica- 
tion between remote extremes of a country and its centre, has 
been justly regarded as a very formidable objection to the ex- 
tension of a republican government over an immense territory. 
But by the assistance of these wonderful agencies, communi- 
cation can be had with all necessary and desirable dispatch, 
from one end to the other, of an entire continent; and for all 
purposes of intelligence, business and social intercourse, if our 
Republic embraced the whole of North-America, it would co- 
ver less territory, than when it was composed of the original 
thirteen States. The news of a foreign invasion at one point, 
and of domestic insurrection at another, and the means of re- 
pelling the former and suppressing the latter, could be trans- 
ported with more ease, in less time and at smaller expense, 
than they could over one-fiftieth of the territory, forty years 
ago. It is impossible for the human mind to conceive of the 
effects, which these improvements are to have upon the social 
and business relations of nations and the several States of this- 
confederacy. But if, in the dispensations of Providence, year 
by year, the obstacles and objections to the continued exten- 
sion of our territory, even to the embrasure of the entire con- 
tinent, are being removed by the achievements of science, is 
it not reasonable to infer that, it is His ultimate purpose, to 
bring the whole of North-America under the benign influences 
of our free institutions? By many, these discoveries are re- 
garded as mere exhibitions of the power and resources of the 
human intellect, — as splendid accidents in the progress of 
science. But the wisest and best men, like the great Newton, 
see in them all the traces of a hand IJivine. They are consi- 
dered, and not without reason, as fallilments of the prophetic 
vision of Daniel, which is written, '• mani/ shall run to and 
fro and knowledge shall he ina'eased;"* and of the remarka- 
ble language of Job, when he says, " Canst thou send light- 
nings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here loe are?"j[ 

The object of the foregoing observations is, to illustrate and 
enforce this proposition: That it is the probable design of Pro- 
vidence, that this continent, through the instrumentahty of our 
republican institutions, shall be the broad theatre for the de- 

*Vid. Daniel xii ch. v. 4. tVid. Job xxxviii ch. v. 35. 



13 

velopmeiil ui the liigliCh't civilization oikI tlic happiest nianilies- 
tations ot" the social state. It has been argued that, tliis de- 
sign is foreshadowed by the nature, genius and tendencies oi' 
our political and social organization; by the gradual receding 
of the Indian tribes before the march of civilization; by the 
peculiarly propitious state of things in Great Britain, at the 
time when her emigrants made permanent settlements in the 
Colonies; by the miraculous triumphs of our fathers over the 
difficulties of the Revolution, and the dangers that surrounded 
them at the adoption of our Federal Constitution; by the pre- 
servation of our Union from domestic convulsions and foreign 
invasions; by our unexampled growth in territory, population 
and national greatness; — and by the achievements of scientific 
discovery over the obstacles to the unlimited enlargement of 
our borders. 

Nor is the proposition startling. There is nothing in the 
universe that does not indicate design. It is seen in the small- 
est blade of grass that vegetates in the earth, and the weakest 
insect that creeps upon its surface; in the bright effulgence of 
the blazing orb of day, and the minutest mite that floats in his 
beams; in the grand systems of worlds that wheel through the 
" void innnense," and the latent gravity that binds them in 
their track. Then, shall it be said in reference to man, who 
has been created " a little lower than the angels,"* that the 
Supreme Being exercises no superintending control? That 
nations and empires rise, flourish and decay, without His gui- 
dance and care? And that the whole history of our race is 
made up of events, luippening without design in their origin 
or in the order of their sequence? " Not a sparrow falls to the 
ground without His notice," and we have the assurance that, 
the humblest human being is " of more value than many spar- 
rows."f He is but a superficial observer of the world's pro- 
gress, who does not see that, amid the desolation of kingdoms 
and the blood-shed of revolutions, civihzation has forced on its 
glorious march, as if guided and controlled by the purposes of 
great, noble and beneficent design. Consider the dealings of 
God with the children of Israel in the wilderness, — how he 
protected, ied and crowned them with victory. Was it not 
to accomplish a definite purpose? Consider the condition of 
the world at the fall of Constantinople. That city was at that 
time the asylum of science and scholars, after their banish- 
ment from Western Europe by the invasion of the Northern 
barbarians. It was the central point Irom which, there was a 
lingering hope left, that the light of knowledge might again di- 
verge and dispel the moral gloom which shrouded the mind of 

*Vid. Hebrews ch. n, v. 7. tVid. Mathew x ch. v. 29, et Luke ch. xii, v. 7. 



14 

man. But in J 445, it fell belure the banner of the Turks, and 
with it, were supposed to have expired the faint glimmerings 
of knowledge and virtue, which had begun to dawn upon the 
world. But it was for Providence to bring " light out of 
darkness, and order out of confusion." The event proved to 
be the harbinger of morning, the day-star of the Reformation. 
Now, it is true, we have not seen the pillar of fire and of cloud, 
nor the manna dropping down from the gentle Heavens, nor 
the waters of Jordan dividing and standing as a wall; but we 
iiave had evidences as unequivocal of the favor of Providence, 
and his design to rear on this continent the noblest structure 
of freedom and civilization that has ever blessed mankind. It 
was in this, that our forefathers trusted in the hour of peril.* 
In this, is our safety and security. In this, are garnered up 
the hopes of all coming generations. Without it, what were 
man? What were society, left to the guidance and caprice of 
passion and appetite? What were civil government, in the 
hands of men, depraved and unrestrained by that invisible 
Power, who distils the dews, rules the seasons and regulates 
the rolling spheres? 

Now the will of God is the supreme law of the universe, and, 
whether promulgated by direct communication or by Providen- 
tial indications, it is alike obligatory on man. Here, then, we 
stand, the connecting link between the generations that are 
past, and the generations that are to come. Here we stand, 
the tenants in trust, for the benefit of posterity, of this goodly 
heritage — this magnificent country, with all its capacities and 
resources, and this republican fabric, with all the wisdom of its 
provisions, the comprehensiveness of its policy and its far- 
reaching designs for the distant future. Here we stand, and 
as memory performs her pilgrimage to the green graves of our 
political sires, and in the transports of overflowing gratitude, 
recounts their sacrifices, their toils and their virtues; and as 
the imagination wings her adventurous flight and catches 
bright glimpses of the unfolding glories of approaching years 
and the rising destiny of coming generations, the voice of Pro- 
vidence, speaking through the long concatenation of events, 
significant of palpable purpose, points us to our duty. How 
momentous, how solemn! 

What is that duty? It is, by a faithful co-operation with the 
will of Heaven, to work out for posterity and this ample con- 
tinent their bright and glorious destiny of freedom and high 
civilization. 

How is this to be done? The Supreme Being operates by 
means. It is to be done, then, by the preservation and proper 



i^Vk]. Declaration of Indopondence, last sentence. 



15 

employment of the means which, m His providence, liave been 
ordained to accompUsh the great and noble work. But we 
have seen that our government is probably that grand instru- 
mentality; and therefore we must preserve its integrity, its 
institutions from decay, its objects from perversion, and its 
principles from violation. 

A free press, free suffrage, free religion and free education 
are the bulwarks of civil liberty. Blessed with these, no ]>eo- 
ple can be subjugated; they will be as invii^cible as the giant 
of Gaza, Without them, they are slaves already. 

In this country, the press is unfettered by solemn constitu- 
tional provision.* In the form of newspapers, periodicals and 
books, it circulates every species of intelligence and every 
production of the mind. It is the channel of thought and ar- 
gument. It is the medium through which are viewed the 
conduct and relations of men; the policy and operations of go- 
vernment; the social and business intercourse betv/een com- 
munities and nations. It is the great agency by wdiich public 
opinion is formed and directed. It is, therefore, an engine of 
incalculable power for good, and its freedom should be guard- 
ed with untiring and sleepless vigilance. 

But its freedom, however important, does not preserve it 
from, but rather tempts it into licentiousness; and mere is no 
greater curse to any country than a licentious press. It as- 
sails private character; misrepresents the opinions, conduct 
and motives of men; distorts facts; states falsehoods; appeals 
to the passions, instead of the reason of the people; — and thus, 
often engenders a storm of popular excitement, which, in its 
fury, strikes down the landmarks between virtue and vice, 
and prostrates the barriers which the law has erected to re- 
strain violence and insubordination. It is, therefore, an engine 
of incalculable power for mischief as well as good, and its 
purity should be watched with as wakeful an assiduity, as its 
freedom. 

How then is its purity to be preserved? The Constitution 
stands guard over its freedom, strengthened and sustained in 
its holy vigils, by the sacred recollections which gather about 
it from the ages that are past, — recollections of the toil and 
blood and treasure which it has cost. But no flaming sword 
gleams to drive off the demon spirit of licentio7isness, as he 
approaches with feathered tread, to breathe into its very 
vains, pollution and poison and death. Public sentiment alone, 
is its guardian against this fearful tendency. But what is 
greatly to be dreaded is the fact, that the press forms public 
sentiment, and is therefore armed to a great extent, with the 

*Vid. Const. U. States, § 83. Art. 1. 



16 

•jtower of suHlaining its own corrLiplion. They mutually act 
and react upon eaoli other. A hccntious press vitiates the 
public inind, and a depraved public taste encourages the im- 
purity of the press; whilst a pure press corrects public senti- 
ment, and a correct public sentiment restrains the press within 
its legitimate sphere. The only safety, tiierefore, against these 
evils, is to educate the people. Do this, and they will be capa- 
ble of ajipreciating truth and detecting falsehood, and of distin- 
guishing between facts and their distortion; actions and their 
misrepresentation; appeals to their passions and appeals to 
their reason. Educate the people, and you promote an eleva- 
ted and healthful tone of public opinion, and thereby preserve 
not only \\\q freedom, but the pin- if >/ of the press. 

Our jiolitical system rests upon the doctrine that man is ca- 
pable of self-government; and hence, the freedom of the elec- 
tive franchise. The ballot box is the mouth-piece through 
which, the concentrated will of the people utters its decisions — 
authoritative as law — and promulgates its mandates — potent as 
destiny. No argument is necessary to impress the mind of an 
American audience with its importance. It is fundamental; 
a'lid its denial by the mother country unsheathed the sword of 
the revolution. Upon its judicious and proper exercise, de- 
pend the durability of our institutions and the hopes of a con- 
tinent, which they have been established to redeem. ' What, 
then, are tlie requisite qualifications to enable every citizen 
thus to exercise it? He ought to he, firm, to resist the trickery, 
the persuasion and the seductive approaches of the designing 
demagogue; he ought to be independent, to pursue the con- 
victions of his own judgment, irrespective of mere ])ersonal 
prejudices or predilections, and despite the blinding influences 
of party associations ; he ought to be intelligent, to under- 
stand the principles involved in the issues to be determined, 
the merits of the candidates and the true interest of the coun- 
try; and he ought to be virtuous, to give proper direction 
and control to his firmness, his independence and his intelli- 
gence. To possess these high qualifications, must not the 
feople he educatedf 

It is now generally conceded that public morality is indis- 
pensable to the stability of a Republic. It is that power in 
society which sustains the law in its protection of personal 
Kecni-ity and private pro])erty; maintains the public peace, the 
inviolability of contrac^ts, and the sacredness of oaths; and 
rescues from overthrow those religious institutions which we 
have adopted as part an parcel of our civil polity. Destroy 
this and the bond of the social compact is severed, anarchy 
reigns triumphant and revolution spreads her bloody banner 
over the desolation which is created. Penal statutes may ut- 



17 

ter their anathemas against crime and proclaim the terrors of 
the gallows to the murderer; but unless they be the true ex- 
ponents of the popular will — the echos of public morality, they 
will be as impotent as packthread to restrain the lawless. — ■ 
The force of these truths is fully illustrated by the fact, that 
all civilized, — it might be said, all — governments, have recog- 
nised the claims of rehgion, in their organization. The only 
instance in which the experiment has been made without it, af- 
fords mournful demonstration of its indispensibility. The history 
of the French revolution is a sad commentary upon the capa- 
city of man, however enlightened, to maintain government in 
contempt of religious obligations. Hence, the framers of our 
Republic looked with confidence, to the efficacy of religion to 
maintain public morality, and ordained the freedom of its ex- 
ercise. But the freedom of religion alone, does not necessarily 
secure public morahty. A man may be at liberty to worship 
God when and where and how he may please, and yet he may 
be blinded by superstition, inflamed with bigotry and animated 
with a spirit of the most implacable and unrelenting intolerance. 
He may have the zeal of Paul, and yet, if a slave to error, he 
may, in the name of religion, violate all the rights of person 
and property, and commit the grossest outrages against the 
well-being of society. Of the truth of these assertions, the 
history of persecution in all ages, bears ample testimony. — 
Religion, therefore, must not only be/ree, but it must also be 
enlightened. Who can be expected to appreciate the claims 
of moral obligation, if he cannot read and understand for him- 
self, The Sacred Book, hoary witlitmie and vital with the spirit 
of Divinity? 

Nor is the freedom of religion secure in the hands of an ig- 
norant people, although it has thrown over it the iron panoply 
of constitutional guaranty. When ignorance predominates 
over intelligence in any community, that community is at the 
mercy of passion and faction; and if to these elements, you 
add bigotry, the legitimate ofispring of unenlightened religion, 
constitutional prohibitions are as worthless as the parchment 
on which they are printed. At no period in the history of 
man, have ignorance and intolerance, when in the ascendency, 
ever been curbed by paper restrictions. Like the inundations 
of the Nile, they sweep before them all opposition to their 
progress; but unlike the inundations of the Nile, they leave 
behind no fertilising deposit. Therefore, to guard against 
these evils, — to secure intelligence in religion, and thereby 
public morahty, let the lights of j)uhlic education illumine all 
our temples. 

Reference has already been had to our maxim, that all men 
are equal. It is to be feared that this is too little appreciated, 
c 



18 

It seems to be regarded rather as a theme for panegyric, on 
amiiversary occasions, than as a feature of real practical value 
in our system of government. It is indeed the basis of that 
provision of our Federal Constitution, which utterly forbids 
the granting of titles of nobility.* It is upon this principle, that 
the capital, labor and employment of all men are regarded 
with equal favor. It is unfriendly to the encouragement and 
protection of one class, at the expense of all others, and to the 
granting of monopolies and exclusive privileges. As before 
remarked, it is one of the distinguishing features between our 
government and the despotisms of Europe; and it has been 
handed down to us, consecrated by revolutionary blood. Now, 
there is nothing in all the circle of moral agencies, so well cal- 
culated to preserve this equality in fact, as the diffusion of a 
high degree of intelligence among the people. Nothing more 
surely begets classes and distinctions in society, than an une- 
qual and partial distribution of the blessings of education; and 
although the one class may not be known by the title of Baron, 
or Duke, or Lord, nor the other as Peasantry, — though one 
may not be styled Patrician and the other Plebeian; yet the 
distinction is just as palpable, and fraught with evils as grievous, 
as if it existed by constitutional sanction. It is general intelli- 
gence alone that elevates, ennobles and dignities society; thai 
can check the progress of partial legislation, restrain the ten- 
dencies to the concentration of power in the hands of favored 
monopolies, and place the pocjr on a footing with the rich, in the 
contest which is, and probably ever will be waged between cap- 
ital and labor. The legislative power may not dare to confer 
titles of nobility, eo nomine. This would call up from their tombs 
the indignant ghosts of the revolutionary fathers. But unless 
the people are intelligent to understand their rights, to trace the 
effects of legislation and detect its evils, this very principle of 
equality will be violated, and infinitely greater mischief inflict- 
ed, in the conferring of exclusive privileges and protecting one 
class at the sacrifice of all others. The mischief is greater, 
because in the one case, it is only creating distinctions in 
name, and in the other, distinctions in fact. Thereiore, to pre- 
serve inviolate, in its letter and in its spirit, this important and 
valuable principle of our government, let the people he educated. 
When Numa Pompilius established the College of the Ves- 
tals, he told the Roman people that the safety of the empire 
depended on the preservation of the sacred Ancyle, or shield, 
which they believed had dropped down from Heaven. With 
similar reverence should we regard the Ce)nstitution of the U- 
nited States. It is our sacred Ancyle, vouchsafed to our poli- 

* Vid. Constilutiou U. Slates, §1X, Art. 49. 



!9 

tical sires by a beneficent Providence, and transmitted to us, 
hallowed by the recollections of their revolutionary toils. Up- 
on its preservation depends the integrity ot'our Union. As we 
have seen, it is the fruit ol" mature deliberation, profound wis- 
dom, and magnanimous compromise. To fathom its depths, 
to rise to the comprehension of its lofty heights, and to survey 
the amplitude of its policy and the expanse of its boundless 
designs, present and future, tasks for a lifetime, the gigantic 
intellects of our ablest statesmen. Yet the gravest questions 
that can arise under it, however abstruse, however pregnant 
with the fate of empire, are to Ije discussed and finally decided 
by the people. Then should not the people he educated? 

It has been observed that, from the nature of our political 
system, public opionion is constituted the arbiter of all ques- 
tions. This we have seen is true, in reference to preserving 
the freedom and purity of the press, the purity of the elec- 
tive franchise, the equality of the people, and the integrity of 
the Constitution. For there is not one of these important 
topics, no matter in what shape or under what aspect it may 
arise, but must pass the review of this august tribunal, com- 
posed of all the people, and each entitled to a voice in its de- 
liberations. How infinitely necessary, therefore, that it be 
enlightened, in order that its decisions may be correct! For 
this purpose, therefore, tlie whole j)eople should he educated. 

In kingly governments, when a Prince is born wdio is the heir 
apparent to the Throne, hymns of praise are jaunted in the 
great congregation; the ministers of religion are convoked to 
consecrate him to the interests and service of the nation, and 
learned men are placed to watch over his education and de- 
velope his mental powers, by training them under the full in- 
fluences of the light of science. This is all done, because he 
is to administer the weighty afiairs of government; he is the 
representative of sovereignty; and, therefore, he must be edu- 
cated to quahfy him for the responsible task. In this country, 
we have no royal princes, but every citizen is born with an 
inherent eligibility to every office known to our government, 
from the humblest, up to the Chief Magistracy of the Union. 
Is our system of government less complicated than others? — 
By no means; but rather more so. Does it require less ability 
to administer its departments; less intelligence to discharge 
the duties of its various offices? Certainly not. Then there 
exist the same necessity and the same reason that every citizen 
of a republic should be educated, which obtain in a monarchy, 
that the King should be: for here every citizen constitutes and 
represents a portion of the national sovereignty and is eligible to 
its highest offices. Does not this necessarily involve the pre- 



20 

sumption, that in contemplation of our political theory, the 
whole people shall he educated? 

If any one department of our government can be more im- 
portant than another, it is the Judicial. Its province is, to ex- 
pound the laws, protect the rights and redress the wrongs of 
every citizen. It throws its coat of mail over the Constitution. 
It bridles with reins of iron, the assassin and the robber. 
It stands sentinel, sword in hand, at the hearth-stone of every 
man's domicil, to drive back the incendiary and burglar. To 
its keeping are confided social order and public tranquillity. — 
It is important, therefore, when the citizen appeals to its tribu- 
nals, that he may do so with full confidence, that the scale of 
justice will be poised with impartial hand, and that he will 
have meted to him the full benefit of the law whose aid he in- 
vokes. If he receive injustice, the evil to him is great; for he 
suffers wrong unredressed. But the injury to society is in- 
finitely worse. It lessens public attachment to, and public 
confidence in, our institutions. It may not manifest itself in 
outbreaks of open insubordination; but it, nevertheless, depos- 
its an egg. of discontent, which similar occurrences will hatch 
into a canker worm, at the very heart of our jurisprudential 
system. But this even-handed justice, deUcate and difficult 
as is the task, is to be administered by a jury of twelve men. 
Who has not observed the progress of a trial in our courts of 
justice? It may be that the character, the property, the liber- 
ty, or the life df the party is at stake. You see the array of 
counsel on eimer side; the cause involves the most vexed 
questions of pleading and evidence; authorities from the time 
of Lord Coke, to the day of trial are produced; now the coun- 
tenance of the Judge assumes the gravest mood, indicative of 
a deep sense of his solemn responsibility, and now his brow is 
knit and eye fixed, showing the intellectual effort to solve a 
doubt; the witnesses are called to the stand; their statements 
are complicated, confused, contradictory, and it may be, that 
counsel tax their ingenuity and ply the tortures of cross-exam- 
ination to make "confusion worse confounded;" the jury in 
the box are to hear it all, sift and digest the long arguments of 
counsel, receive and understand the law from the Court, unra- 
vel the tangled spool of testimony, reconcile its incongruities, 
harmonize its contradictions, weigh the credibility of witness- 
es, apply the law to the facts and then, under the obligations 
of an oatli — upon the peril of their eternal salvation, they are 
to render a verdict which shall do exact and strict justice be- 
tween the litigants. How few unlettered minds are equal to so 
delicate and embarrassing a task? But this is a duty which 
is imperative upon every citizen. However sensibly he may 
feel his incapacity, however anxious he may be, to avoid the 



-1 

responsibility, he cannot be exonerated; the law commands to 
be obeyed. How important therefore, that every citizen 
should be qualified by education, for the discharge of this diffi- 
cult, but inevitable duty! The Trial by Jury is one of the 
boasts of our Constitution. It is frequently denominated the 
sheetanchor of our freedom, the seaman's last resort to hold 
the ship secure, when the tempest in its wrath scourges the 
ocean. If the jury be intelligent and free from prejudice, it is 
no misnomer; but if they be blinded by ignorance and swerved 
by passion, the vessel of state is at the mercy of the win({s 
and waves. 

In the preceding remarks the necessity of public education 
and virtue, has been illustrated by the nature of our institutions 
and the principles on which they are founded, without any re- 
ference to the extent of territory embraced within the limits 
of our government. Our whole system rests upon the capacity 
of the people to govern themselves, which necessarily pre- 
sumes knoivledge, to understand how to govern, and vh^tue, to 
give to that knowledge /f/^oper direction. But how much more 
striking and palpable their necessity, in view of our increasing 
territory and population! 

Our system, rightly managed, contains within itself, the 
principle of progress, and its legitimate tendency is, to enlarge 
the boundaries of civihzation. Without stopping to discuss 
this assertion, let it suffice to say, that it is fully illustrated by 
the past growth of our country in territory and all that ele- 
vates and ennobles man. This has been previously considered, 
in support of the proposition, that the whole of North-Ameri- 
ca will probably be brought under the influence of our institu- 
tions. How sublime, then, are the visions which such a pros- 
pect presents to the imagination! What an expanse of terri- 
tory! What countless millions of human beings, luxuriating 
in the enjoyment of rational liberty and enlightened civiliza- 
tion! Our triumphant Eagle has already scaled the Rocky 
Mountains in the North-West; and now she flutters over the 
halls of the Montezumas, anxious to shake" from her wings the 
blessings of civil and religious freedom. For whilst she grasps 
the thunderbolt of Mars with one foot, she tenders the Olive 
branch of peace in the other. Contemplate for a moment the 
rapid ratio in which, population has increased in the United 
States. From 1790, to 1840, it swelled from 3,929,287, to 
17,063,353. Should it continue to increase at a like rate until 
the year 1900, it will reach the immense number of more than 
150,000,000. Look at the vast resources and capacities of 
the territory which, within that period, will probably take 
shelter under the stars and stripes of this confederacy. What 
fertile plains, what majestic rivers, what exhaustless stores of 



22 

mineral wealth! According to the census statistics of 1840,* 
iniperlect as they evidently were, the production of the United 
States from agriculture, manufactures, commerce, mining, 
forests and fisheries, amounted to the enormous sum of one 
billion, sixty-three millions, one hundred and thirty-four thou- 
sand, seven hundred and sixty-six dollars. But that census 
showed a population of less than 18,000,000, How incalcula- — 
ble, then, will be the production, with a population of 150,000,- 
Opo! Glance a little further down the vista of futurity, if need 
be, when the Canadas, British and Russian America, and 
Mexico from the Rio del Norte to the Pacific and from the 
49th parallel to the isthmus of Darien, through the instrument- 
ahty of our free institutions, shall become the participants of 
the blessings of rational liberty, and by what rule shall we ^ 
compute its annual production? Consider further, its-produc- 
tion when all this vast extent of territory shall be filled with a 
population equal to its capability to sustain human life; and 
the imagination struggles in vain to grasp the immense con- 
ception, and mathematical numbers stand mute, bewildered 
in the mazes of the mighty calculation. 

But there is only one condition upon which, these results 
can ever be realized; and that is, thatpopidai' intelligence and 
virtue shall increase with territory and population. Without 
this, constant accessions to our boundaries can awaken in the 
bosom of the patriot nothing but the most serious apprehen- 
sions. It is true the power or the policy of our government 
to acquire territory, is not now an open question. It was set- 
tled by the fathers of the Constitution when they included the 
provision that " New States may be admitted into the Union."t 
It was settled when the Floridas and Louisiana were acquired. 
It was re-argued and the decision confirmed when the " lone 
star of Texas" took its place amongst the shining lights of our 
political constellation. It is also true, that experience has 
thus far verified the language of Mr. Monroe, in his Message 
of 1823. He said, "That" this expansion of population and 
" accession of new States to our Union, have had the happiest 
" effect on all its highest interests. That it has eminently aug- 
" mented our resources and added to our strength and respect- 
" ability in power, is admitted by all. It is manifest, that, by 
" enlarging the basis of our system and increasing the number 
"of States, the system itself has been greatly strengthened in 

*The census tables of 1840, are used in this Address because they contain the 
most recent sources of statistical information. Tliey are not only very inaccurate 
in themselves, but doubtless six years have made vast changes in the condition of 
the country. Their figures, however, n re used for illustration, rather than accuracy; 
and for this purpose they are quite sufficient. 

i Vid. Const. U. States, § III. Art. 4. 



23 

" both its branches. Consulidalioii and dib'uulon Iiave thereby 
"been rendered equally iuij)racticable. Each government 
" confiding in its own strength, has less to apprehend from the 
''Others, and in consequence each enjoying a greater freedom 
"of action, is rendered more elhcient for all the ])urposes for 
" which it was instituted."* 

But it should be remembered that, these results have ensued 
with a sparse population, and doubtless they will continue so 
long as this state of things shall be kept up by the acquisition 
of territory. Whilst land is abundant and cheap, it invites to 
agricultural pursuits; and so long as the great mass of the peo- 
ple are engaged in cultivating the earth, there is but little dan- 
ger of internal convulsions. In all ages of the world, agricul- 
ture has been friendly to the promotion of peace; for it is op- 
posed to idleness, protligacy and vice, and cherishes industr}^, 
frugality and virtue. But as population increases, the value 
of land advances, and hence capital and labor are forced into 
other channels. The engagements and avocations of men be- 
come more various and complicated, their interests more con- 
flicting and thereby, the chances for civil discord multiplied. — 
People in condensed masses are inflammable, restless, difficult 
to control, impatient under the restraints of law and prone to 
yield to the impulses of passion rather than the dictates of rea- 
son. The sentiments of Mr. Monroe then, will continue to be 
true, so long as new accessions of territory shall keep our po- 
pulation diluted. f But the time must come, when the enlarge- 
ment of our borders sh^l cease. Then our population will 
begin to become denser and more dense, and in the method 
just described, the tendencies, to domestic commotions will be 
accelerated. Is it not the part of wisdom therefore, to seek 
a remedy in advance, for these evils? To put it into healthful 
and vigorous operation, so that it shall counteract them one 
by one, as they arise, like Hercules cutting off the heads of the 
Lernean Hydra? 

What then is the remedy? Is it to be found in the peculiar 
nature of our institutions? It is true there is nothing in a re- 
publican form of government, in view of the principles on 
which it is founded, unfriendly to its extension over a wide 
territory. On the contrary, it is the most favorable of any 
other form, to such expansion. The nice adjustment of the 
relationship between the Federal and State governments; the 

*Vicl. Prest. Monroe's Message to Cong. 1823. 
+ If the present population of the U. S. were crowded into the old original thir- 
teen, how long, in view of the pervading ignorance and immorality of the country, 
would this Republic exist? What but (he gradual increase of territory, has thus 
far saved us from domestic convulsions? A dense and ignorant population cannot 
maintain a Domestic form of Govermncnt. 



24 

iimllation of the one, to purposes of foreign relations and com- 
merce, and the unabated sovereignty of the other, save for 
these objects, secure the strength of monarchy on the one 
hand, for protection and defence, and the freedom of distinct 
repubhcs on the other, for municipal and domestic regulations. 
But there is no inherent self-sustaining and self-purifying pow- 
er in a Republic; and the range which is given to the popular 
principle, augments the danger of internal convulsions. Then, 
if not in the character of our institutions, where, let it be again 
asked, is to be found the antedote for the evils of increasing 
population? Will you look for it in standing armies? These 
would be as impotent as stubble before devouring flames, 
if brought to suppress the storm of popular insurrection; and 
the circumstances which shall ever create a necessity for the 
experiment, will demonstrate their total inefficiency. Will 
you find it in penal enactments and paper constitutions? Soon- 
er expect to bind down Briareus, with fibers of cobweb. The 
power which impels the machinery of this government is the 
people's loill; if that power be misdirected — improperly ap- 
plied — the machine itself must fail to answer the end of its 
creation. Public virtue is the oil v/hich preserves its wheels 
from friction and jarring discord; without it, it will be con- 
sumed by the combustion which its own velocity will generate. 
Then let popular education T^diXch pari passu, with the increase 
of population; education, elevated and purified with the Hea- 
venly influences of Bible morality — education which shall en- 
lighten the populaj.' will, and moraiity, which shall regulate 
the impulses of the popular heart, and bridle its licentiousness 
and insubordination. These alone, teach men to understand 
and respect the authority of law, the sacredness of private 
rights, and the value of public peace. These alone, open new 
fields of enterprise when the walks of Agriculture are throng- 
ed, diversify the pursuits of society, save the collisions of con- 
flicting interests, explore and develope the resources of the 
kingdoms of nature and maintain the supremacy of civilization 
over barbarism and anarchy. 

In the benevolence of its policy, our government throws 
wide its doors to the emigrant from every land; and thousands 
annually avail themselves of this asylum for the oppressed. — 
They come into our midst, incorporate themselves with our 
society and after the requisite residence and legal formalities, 
they assume the duties and receive the privileges and immu- 
nities of citizenship. They come ignorant of our laws and 
institutions and entertaining natural sympathies for the cus- 
toms and institutions which they have left. Heretofore, how- 
ever, emigration has not been sufficient to destroy the homo- 
geniousness of our population. But the recent accessions to 



25 

our territory, the happiness which is enjoyed by the free citi--' 
zens of this RepubUc, and the miseries consequent upon want 
and oppression, which exist in the old world, must greatly 
augment the influx of foreigners to this country. In view of 
this, many indulge the apprehension, that it may introduce a 
mixture of population, so different in their political affinities, as 
to jeopard social order and thwart the legitimate operations of 
our government. To prevent these dangers, there are 
those who favor the poHcy of entirely excluding foreigners 
from the rights and privileges of citizenship. But this 
would be repugnant to the genius of our institutions, and 
would betray a selfishness unworthy the expansive designs 
of our Constitution. Others, again, insist that our laws 
of naturalization should be so modified, as greatly to prolong 
the time of probation. But this would not meet the appre- 
hended danger. For the evil does not consist in their 
possessing the rights of citizenship; but rather in the fact 
of their ignorance of the principles of our government. — 
There is no reforming and enlightening power in the denial of, 
or a protraction of the probation for, the rights of citizenship. 
But, on the contrary, rather a discouragement to reformation. 
By extending to the emigrant the benefits of naturalization 
laws, he receives a personal interest in the government; feels 
that it protects his person, his character, his industry and his 
property. This begets patriotism, and patriotism prompts to 
allegiance and subordination to the constituted authorities. — 
The remedy, then, is palpable and obvious. Close not our 
doors against the wandering exile who seeks shelter from the 
storm of oppression, under the ample wing of the Eagle of li- 
berty; nor yet protract his time of probation, lest you dimin- 
ish the strong incentives to industry and virtue, which the 
prospect of early naturalization, holds out to the foreigner. — 
But let us have amongst us, so all-pervading an influence of 
intelligence and morality, that the moment the foot of the emi- 
grant touches our soil, he shall be surrounded by an atmos- 
phere, which will enlighten, elevate and purify his mind and 
heart. Let him appreciate the value of our institutions, by 
observing the happiness which they confer, and the force of 
our laws, by the protection which they aflford to person and 
property. Let his propensities for vice and dissipation, if he 
have them, be subdued by the entire absence of the means of 
their gratification. Let him, be stimulated to frugality and 
temperance, by the bright example of their universal practice 
by ourselves. Public education and morality come in here 
again, as the great remedy. They compose the leaven which 
is to leaven the growing mass of our population, preserve its 



26 

homogeneoLisness, and infuse into it the adhesiveness of politi- 
cal affinity. 

Glance at this subject in another aspect — the obvious defi- 
ciency of pubUc education, for the present purposes and secu- 
rity of the Republic. The census of 1840, exhibits the white 
population of the United States to be 14,581,553. It is ascer- 
tained that about 25 per cent, of that number, or 3,645,368, 
are between the ages of four and sixteen years. This embra- 
ces the period of pupilage. Such an education as to qualify an 
individual for the duties of citizenship, can scarcely be acquir- 
ed, with the best facilities, earUer than his arrival at the age of 
sixteen. In view, then, of the nature of our government, rest- 
ing as it does upon the indispensible basis of popular intelli- 
gence and virtue, the census tables ought to show that almost 
the entire number of this class of our population, were attend- 
ing schools, in pursuit of education. But so far from this, they 
exhibit the appalling fact, that little over one half that number 
were thus employed, and that the balance, amounting in round 
numbers to 1,800,000, were not availing themselves of the 
benefit of schools. It is not doubted that a portion of these 
have acquired a partial education, and that others will acquire 
it after they shall have passed the age of sixteen years. But 
it is equally certain that a very large portion of them are 
doomed by the decree of poverty to live out their days in un- 
lettered ignorance. The presumption is, that there are only 
schools and teachers enough to supply those who are at school; 
and that the balance are unsupplied. Consider, for a moment, 
then, what a vast deficiency of teachers exists. To educate 
1,800,000 children, allowing thirty to each school, would re- 
quire in the United States, sixty thousand additional teachers; 
and doubtless that number are needed to meet the pressing 
emergency. Here, then, are 1,800,000 youths in the United 
States, under the age of sixteen years, not employed in the 
pursuit of knowledge. Of this number, thousands since 
the year 1840, have arrived, and thousands are still arriving 
annually to the age of twenty-one years, to exercise the elec- 
tive franchise, influence public sentiment, sit as jurors, holding 
in their hands the " issues of life and death," and to perform 
all the high and momentous duties of American freemen; and, 
on the other hand, the female portion, with like rapidity, have 
become and are still becoming mothers, whose province it is, 
to watch over the cradle of infancy, give the earliest impres- 
sions and impulses to the mind and heart, and thus lay the per- 
manent foundations of future character for evil or for good. 

The same tables show that in 1840, there were in the United 
States, 549,693 white persons, over the age of twenty years, 
who could neither read nor write. What portion of these are 



21 

entitled to tlie elective tranciiise, cannot be accurately known, 
but certainly not less than one half, or 274,840. Now General 
Harrison's popular majority over Mr. Van Buren, was 146,081 
votes. It was the largest majority ever received by any Pre- 
sident except Mr. Monroe. But great as that majority was, 
it was nearly one-third less than the number of voters in the 
United States who could neither read nor write. It is obvious 
therefore, that this class of our voting population, hold the ba- 
lance of power in this country on all great questions involving 
the public weal. What a dangerous element! What a tempt- 
ing prize for the trickery of demagoguism and the pliances of 
party tactics! How fortunate for the country that they do not 
ally themselves in mass with either party, but divide them- 
selves about equally, in obedience to the equally strenuous ef- 
forts of both parties to obtain their votes! Should not these 
facts awaken the solicitude of every lover of his country? In 
connexion with them, consider the means used by politicians 
and leaders to obtain and preserve the ascendency of their 
respective parties; — the vituperation and abuse — the fraud and 
chicanery — the falsehood and misrepresentation — the tender- 
ing of false issues and the abandonment of principles — the task- 
ing of their ingenuity to convert every little new development 
or turn in the progress of affairs into electioneering capital — 
the lynx-eyed jealousy with which each party watches the 
other, to detect some act or movement which may turn the 
tide of popular sentiment and change the "fortunes of the 
day;" — and who can contemplate the picture, in all its aspects, 
without gloomy apprehensions for the safety of the RepubUc? 
What are we doing to arrest these evils? Where is the virtu- 
ous patriotism that animated our forefathers? Where is that 
devotion to principle which inspired them with the soldier's 
courage and the martyr's fortitude? Party zeal, like raging 
fire, has well nigh withered and consumed them all; and the 
spirit of faction, like a demon from the bottomless pit, revels in 
our halls of legislation. 

Here, then, lies a continent, set apart, as we beheve, from 
the indications of Providence, as the abode of literature, 
science, religion and high civilization. Three-fourths oi it are 
yet to be redeemed from oppression, from ignorance, from 
superstition and from barbarism. In one corner of this vast 
area, has been organized a form of civil government, which, 
in the principles on which it is founded and the enlarged policy 
which it contemplates, is well-suited to be the great instru- 
mentality, for this glorious consummation. This instrument- 
ality, to be stable and efficient, must be employed by a people 
of substantial intelligence, enlarged patriotism, lofty virtue and 
comprehensive philanthropy. To us. it has been intrusted. 



28 

and upon us rests the tremendous responsibility of working out 
that bright destiny; and that responsibility is enforced by gra- 
titude to our forefathers, duty to posterity and obedience to 
God. Universal pubhc education is the great moral agency 
by which these sublime results are to be effected. 

How shall such education be furnished to the people? This 
is one of the most momentous questions, which, as Americans, 
can ever claim our reflections. It gathers interest from the 
hoary associations which cluster around the grave of the past, 
and from the visions which kindle in the distant future. It 
reaches into the ages of eternity. Shall we look to our schools, 
academies and colleges? A moment's reflection will show 
how utterly vain the expectation. We have already seen that 
there are in the United States 1,800,000 children, under the 
age of sixteen, not engaged in acquiring education; and that 
at the rate of thirty to each school, there are wanting 60,000 
teachers. Whence are to come this supply of teachers; and, 
if furnished, whence the means of their compensation and the 
payment of the tuition of the hundreds of thousands of poor 
children, who are pennyless and destitute? 

Shall we look for aid from the General Government? It is 
clothed with no power to establish any system of popular edu- 
cation. It is authorised " to promote the progress of science 
" and useful arts, by securing, for limited times, to authors and 
" inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and 
" discoveries;"* and in the sale of the public lands, it has reser- 
ved a specified section, for the purposes of education in the 
State in which the land is situated. But beyond this it cannot 
go; and so impressed was Congress with this absence of Con- 
stitutional authority, on the subject of public education, that 
they experienced great embarrassment, in reference to the 
Smithsonian bequest. In the Convention of 1 787, which framed 
the Constitution of the United States, Mr. Madison moved to 
authorise Congress " to establish an University," and on the 
same day, Mr. Pinckney proposed distinctly to confer the pow- 
er " to establish seminaries for the promotion of literature and 
the arts and sciences."! But both propositions were rejected. 
It is evident, therefore, that this whole matter, vast and import- 
ant as it is, was wisely and properly left by the authors of the 
Constitution, to the entire and exclusive action of the several 
States. 

What, then, is the duty of the State of Georgia, in the pre- 
mises? Evidently, it is to adopt an enlarged and liberal sys- 
tem of indiscriminate public education, which will offer to ev- 

*Vid. Const. U. States, §VIII. Art. 33. 
tVid. Madiwn Pflpers, vol. 'M, p. 1354. 



ery white child williin her limits, ol' every class and condition, 
such facilities as will enable liim to read and understand the 
Federal and State Constitutions, and the laws passed in pursu- 
ance thereof; the geography of the globe; the general princi- 
ples of science, whose application enters into the usual avoca- 
tions and pursuits of life, and the writings of the sacred scrip- 
tures. This much is indispensable to good and valuable citi- 
zenship. This much each member of the confederacy owes 
to all her sisterhood. Georgia has a right to expect it at their 
hands, and they have the reciprocal right to expect it at her's. 
Good faith requires its performance. Why? We have seen 
that our Constitution organizes a form of government, which 
can answer the ends of its creation, only in the hands of an 
intelligent and virtuous people; that in the Convention which 
established the organic law, an attempt was made to clothe 
that government with authority to act in the premises, which 
failed; the States were all represented in that body, and voted 
upon all questions by States. What, then, is the inference? 
In adopting a system of government which rests upon public 
intelligence and virtue, and cannot exist without them, and 
refusing that government the necessary power to promote 
that intelligence, by organizing a system of public education, 
is it not clear, that by such refusal, each State assumed the 
implied obligation of adopting such regulations and measures 
as would secure the requisite amount of public intelligence? 
Let it not be supposed that, although there may be this implied 
obligation on the part of the States to diffuse education among 
the people, yet it is an obligation referable only to the patriot- 
ism and spontaneous generosity of the citizens. It is true, 
this duty is obligatory upon every man who has the welfare 
of his country at heart. But the responsibility now spoken of, 
is one resting upon each State in its corporate character. For 
the Constitution was not only adopted in Convention by the 
vote of States; but it was also subsequently ratified, by the 
separate action of the States. Our government is emphati- 
cally a confederacy of the States, and not of the people of the 
States. Let it not be said, therefore, that public education is 
the one thing needful, that it lies at the bottom of the structure 
of our political fabric, and that upon it rests its unutterable 
interests, and yet there is no obligation upon Georgia, as a 
State, to educate her people. Fidehty to the Federal compact 
does imperatively impose upon her this indispensable duty. 

This obligation was promptly recognised by a large majori- 
ty of the original thirteen States, and Georgia amongst that 
number. Their fundamental laws contain provisions for the 
promotion of education. It was a matter of too much impor- 
tance to be left to inference. The Convention which revised 



nnd amended our State Cunstitution, composed of such men as 
Jackson and Lamar, Rabun and Spalding, Taliaferro and Tal- 
bot, Fort and Nisbet, M'Intosh and Mercer, did not fail to 
clothe the Legislature with plenary power in relation to this 
vital subject. They solemnly ordained "That the arts and 
"sciences shall be promoted in one or ??iore seminaries ot 
learning," &c.* There can be no ambiguity in this language. 
The interest of the republic requires the people to be educa- 
ted; implied faith to the compact demands it; and therefore, 
in the language of command, the Legislature is enjoined to 
promote this object, by establishing " one seminary of learn- 
ing," if that will answer the emergency, — if not, then " more" 
— that is, as many as may be needed to qualify the people for 
self-government. Nor does the Constitution stop here. Ev- 
ery member of the Legislature, upon taking his seat, is requir- 
ed to swear, among other things, " that he will to the utmost 
of his power and ability, conform to, support and defend the 
Constitution."t Here, then, the Legislature is constituted the 
guardian of the public interest, and are required and com- 
manded to adopt such measures as shall secure to the people 
the blessings of good government. For this purpose, public 
intelligence is indispensable; and therefore, if upon a survey of 
the condition of the whole State, the General Assembly are of 
opinion, that there is not a sufficiency of " seminaries of learn- 
ing," to impart the requisite amount of education to the peo- 
ple, each member is bound by the highest considerations of 
patriotism, added to the obligations of his oath, to vote to sup- 
ply the deficiency. 

Then are there now in the State of Georgia, enough of 
"seminaries of learning," to afibrd to the ivhole people the fa- 
cilities of a substantial education? Look at facts. According 
to the census of 1840, there were in the State of Georgia, over 
the age of twenty years, 30,717 white persons who could nei- 
ther read nor write; and the aggregate white population was 
417,690. Therefore, it seems that in 1840, a fraction over 
one-thirtieth of the whole population of Georgia, and that nitm- 
ber adults, were incompetent to discharge intelligently the 
duties of freemen. Agreeably to the State census of 1845, 
the white population is 458,169, showing an increase of 40,- 
479, in five years. Therefore, if the number of adults in the 
State of Georgia, who can neither read nor write, has increas- 
ed in like ratio, or if it continues to be one-thirtieth of the en- 
tire white population, (and there is no reason why it has not) 
then this unfortunate class of citizens, in 1845, amounted to 

*Vid. Const. Geo. §XIII. Art. 160. 

TVicl. Const, (ico. § XIX. .'\rt. 1. 



35,244. Doubtless one hall" of these arc males, entitled tu tlie 
elective franchise, and eligible to the important offices known 
to the institutions of our country; and the other half are a por- 
tion of the mothers of the rising generation, forming their cha- 
racters and shaping their career for " weal or wo." Again, 
according to the best estimates that can be made, as before 
remarked, it is ascertained that one-fourth of our white popu- 
lation are between the ages of four and sixteen years. Then, 
taking the Stale census of 1845, as the basis, and there were 
in Georgia in that time, 114,542 children between those ages. 
Ought they not all to be at school? And yet, according to the 
census of 1840, (which is accurate enough for illustration) and 
there cannot be a much larger number now, there were but 
25,394 of the youth of Georgia, of all ages, attending common 
schools, academies and colleges. The balance, amounting to 
upwards of 89,000, are unsupplied, or at least not engaged in 
the pursuit of education. To furnish the facilities of instruc- 
tion to these, allowing thirty scholars to each school, there are 
required in Georgia, the services of two thousand, nine hun- 
dred and seventy-one teachers, in addition to those already 
employed in that business. Could these facts exist, if Geor- 
gia, impelled by the parental relationship which she sustains to 
her people, had I'aithfuUy " conformed to" the constitutional 
requisition, which the framers other government imposed up- 
on her? In the face of these facts, can it be contended for a 
moment, that there are " seminaries of learning" enough in 
the State, to qualify all her people for self-government? If 
not, then the constitutional obligation to establish them, is im- 
perative and paramount. 

It is not intended to assert, by these remarks, that Georgia has 
done nothing in the cause of popular education. She has done 
something; and though evidently not enough to meet the 
emergency, yet sufficient to show that she recognizes her ob- 
hgation, and perhaps as much as her circumstances allowed. 
At the close of the revolutionary war, she was exceedingly 
feeble and exhausted. She possessed an extensive domain, 
reaching from the Savannah to the Mississippi river. But 
with the exception of a small corner in the extreme South-East 
it was inhabited by fierce and warlike tribes of Indians, aggdnst 
which, it required all her vigilance to protect herself. In 1802, 
she ceded to the General Government, all her territory West 
of the Chatahoochee river, in consideration, that the Indian 
title within her present hmits should be speedily extinguished. 
But yet, she did not obtain absolute sovereignty over her soil, 
except by the piecemeal process of the treaties of 1814, '17, 
'18, '19 and '25; and even under the treaty of J 825, the remo- 
val of the Indians was not consummated until 1833. The ef- 



32 

fed of this gradual extension of hef laws over lier soil, ]ia?J 
been to render her population unstable and fluctuating, and 
permanent and prospective legislation almost impracticable. 
To these causes may be added the constant drain upon her po- 
pulation by the immense bodies of rich lands, which have year 
after year been thrown upon the market, inviting emigration 
to the South and West; and the continued political excitement 
produced by the policy of the General Government in relation 
to the Tariff, a National Bank, Internal Improvements and 
other kindred measures. It should be borne in mind, also, that 
shortly after the removal of the Cherokee Indians, she project-- 
ed the magnificent structure of her Western and Atlantic Rail 
Road, which more than absorbed all her revenue. These 
causes have combined to retard her progress in the cause of 
education, and they afford an apology, if not an excuse, for her 
remaining so far in the rear of some of her sister vStates.* 

But now that she has acquired entire and undisturbed do- 
minion over all her territory, is increasing in population and 
wealth, and has made such progress towards the completion of 
her Rail Road, as will certainly open to her the boundless fer- 
tility of the Mississippi valley, the fulness of time has arrived, 
for her to begin with vigor, a system of public education, com- 
mensurate with the demand that exhibits itself at every point, 
within the compass of her political, social and moral interests. 
She is invited to the enterprise by considerations as weighty 
as ever addressed themselves to any people. 

Reflect, for a moment upon the physical features of Georgia. 
She reposes between the Southern spur of the AUeghanies and 
the flower girt clime of Florida, and therefore embraces al- 
most every variety of soil and climate. The fertile lands that 
skirt her seaboard from the mouth of the Savannah to St. Ma- 
rys, yield in luxurious abundance, many of the fruits of the 
tropics, together with rice, longstapled cotton, maize, sugar 
and live oak. Adjoining this is a vast belt of country, known 
as the " Pine Region," abounding with inexhaustible supplies 
of the best pine in the world, adapted, as is generally conceded, 
to the cultivation of the vine and silk, and the rearing of cattle 
and sheep, and is likewise interspersed with large bodies ot 
exceedingly productive cotton lands. Next comes the vast 
zone of " Middle Georgia," reaching to the base of her moun- 
tains, picturesque, salubrious, prolific in the growth of every 
needed comfort, and possessing in many localities, water pow- 
er sufficient for the propulsion of the most extensive machine- 
ry. Last, by her "Mountain Country," how shall we speak 
of it? — its magnificence and beauty of scenery, the healthful- 



*Vid. thisEubject ably treated in the S. Q. Review, for Oct. 1845. 



33 

ness of its climate, its agricullural lertility, its mountains 
of granite, and marble, and lime, and iron, resting on beds of 
coal, and interspersed with veins and deposits of lead, sil- 
ver, and gold, and its surpassing water power, capable 
of moving the machinery of the world? By her great 
Rail Road, she is destined to command the trade of the 
mighty West, with all its teeming fertiUty; by the Savannah 
and all the constituent tributaries of the Altamaha, she shakes 
hands with the Atlantic and holds commerce with the Eastern 
World; and by the Chattahoochee and the Flint, she neighbors 
it with the Islands that dot the stormy bosom of the Gulf of 
Mexico. Wherever the channels of internal commerce are 
defective or wanting, her magnificent scheme of Rail Road 
Improvements, prosecuted with a vigor and liberality worthy 
an intelligent and patriotic people, is destined soon to make 
ample provisions. What more could nature, in the profusion 
of her bounty, have bestowed? Is it not desirable, aye, the 
highest interest of the State, that these immense resources 
should be developed and made subservient to the intellectual, 
moral and social elevation of her inhabitants? That these 
impetuous currents should lend themselves to the arts of man- 
ufacturing, as they journey on to their ocean home? Are her 
forests to be slain and her lands exhausted by a system of agri- 
culture like that which has heretofore, in the sinfulness of pro- 
digality, wasted and destroyed their fatness? Is it enough that 
her surface shall be thronged with a population, ignorant, un- 
cultivated, unsocial and content merely to subsist upon its 
generous fertility? Are all these resources of nature's bounty 
for the lack of exploration, to add nothing to the common 
stock of science, nothing to the elegancies of hterature and 
art? Education alone can elevate the people of Georgia to a 
just appreciation of the advantages of her position and the 
brightness of her destiny. 

This is not a proper occasion, if time allowed, to consider 
the details of a Common School system. But the obvious 
cause of the total inefficiency of all that the State has hereto- 
fore done, to promote popular education, illustrates most for- 
cibly what ought to be the prominent feature of such system. 
That cause is the distinction which it has recognised between 
the poor and the rich, placing the former in the humiliating 
attitude of mendicants upon the charity of the latter. A free- 
man, however poor, is proud; therefore, there are thousands 
in the State of Georgia, who will disdain its bounty, so long 
as it comes in the name of charity, and will refuse to accept 
the facilities of education, offered under such an aspect. The 
schools, therefore, must be common, free, " without money 
and without price," for all classes and conditions of the chil- 



34 

dren of the State. It is a misnomer to call it charity. The 
State occupies a parental relationship to her people; and shall 
it be called charity for a father to educate his own children? 
No; because they may demand it as a right. It is the duty of 
Georgia to educate her people; a duty which she owes in good 
faith to the federal compact, in view of the principles of our 
republic and the comprehensiveness of its present and future 
policy, in obedience to the express and unequivocal provision 
of Constitutional requisition; and in justice to the political, so- 
cial and moral interests of this and coming generations. 

The establishment of a system of Common Schools in Geor- 
gia, has its difficulties; it is not the work of a day or a year. 
It requires energy, practice, perseverance, time and liberahty. 
But if all these qualities be engaged in its prosecution, every 
impediment will vanish and the most happy success crown the 
effort. Time would fail to consider these obstacles, or answer 
the many objections which the spirit of captiousness or the 
stinginess of parsimony might suggest. One or two remarks, 
therefore, in relation to the expense of such a system, must 
suffice. 

It will evidently require a liberal outlay of money. This is 
the only serious obstacle in the way of its organization. The 
moment any scheme is proposed, however important to the 
welfare and elevation of the State, if it require money, every 
simpering demagogue from the mountains to the seaboard, and 
from river to river, becomes anon the very special friend and 
champion of the dear people, alarms their fears, by thundering 
in their ears the terrors of taxation, and leads them to believe 
that they are to be fleeced for no good, or forsooth, for the 
benefit of a particular class. The sensitiveness of the popu- 
lar mind on the subject of taxation, is wholesome and proper; 
but if indulged to a morbid excess, it may retard or totally de- 
feat the most valuable enterprizes. A correct view of the 
matter cannot fail to disabuse the people of every misappre- 
hension in reference to the policy and wisdom of public appro- 
priations for the promotion of general education. The money 
expended for this object, is not local in its application or par- 
tial in its benefits. It is not for the clearing of a river here, or 
the construction of a Rail Road yonder; but it is to extend to 
all men alike the benefits and blessings of education. It is a 
contribution levied upon the people in proportion to their 
means, for the good of all the people; and they ought to sus- 
pect the motives of any man who seeks to mislead them on this 
vital subject. For he is an enemy to their best interest; and 
devoid of merit, his selfishness discerns in their enlightenment, 
the doom of obscurity to which they will justly consign him. 



35 

But the system once established, and tlie augmentation of 
the quantity and value of property and capital which it will 
necessarily produce, will raise the requisite amount of revenue 
for its support, without any increase of the per centum of taxa- 
tion. It is easier to portray these results than to describe the 
process of their accrual. It will anchor our population, de- 
velope the vast natural wealth of the State, open new chan- 
nels for the investment of capital, diversify their pursuits, and 
introduce the cultivation of many articles now unknown 
to the people. In 1840, the aggregate production of Mas- 
sachusetts from agriculture, manufactures, commerce, mining, 
forests and fisheries, was. $75,470,297. Her territory is but 
8,000 square miles; she had a population of only 737,699, and 
it is proverbial of her, that her principal natural resources are 
"granite and ice." The aggregate production of Georgia, //' ,• ,. 
from the same sources, was but #35,980,363, — ^littfffover half/" ■' ^'^ -^ 
that of Massachusetts. But she had a population of 691,392, 
only one-fifteenth less than that of Massachusetts; her terri- 
tory is 58,000 square miles, — more than seven times that of 
Massachusetts; — and her natural resources are inexhaustible 
and incalculable. How is it then, that in 1840, Massachusetts 
produced fteM'ty twice as much as Georgia? It can only be/,'/ f7U- *Af 
accounted for upon the fact of the superior intelligence of the 
former to the latter. Georgia has seven times the territory; 
it is naturally seven times more fertile; is capable of sustain- 
ing seven times the amount of her population; and is it not 
therefore evident, that if our people were as well educated, 
they would produce annually seven times as many dollars 
from their various pursuits? Is it not evident therefore, that 
if the amount and value of the taxable property of the State 
were thus augmented, that the revenue arising from taxation 
would be increased in a hke ratio without any increase of the 
per centum of taxation? But Massachusetts has had a system 
of pubhc education from the time of her foundation by the pil- 
grim fathers; and during the last ten years, it has made exhi- 
bitions of utility which is attracting the attention of her 
sister States. Give Georgia a system adapted to her neces- 
sities, and in a few years it will not only defray its own expen- 
ses by its augmentation of the taxable property of the State, 
but it will make her the noblest of the Confederacy. 
Young Gentlemen of the Phi Delta and Ciceronian Societies: 

Indulge a few remarks addressed particularly to yourselves, 
in conclusion, and I have done the task which your kindness 
and partiality have assigned me. 

Perhaps it would have been more consonant with the cus- 
tom of occasions like the present, to have conducted your 
minds throuffh the trardens of ancient and modern literature. 



36 

I might have led you to the summit of Parnassus, through its 
valleys and gieen woods, and beside the limpid waters ofCasta- 
lia. I might have invited you to the Athenseum, the meeting 
place of the philosophers, poets and rhetoricians of ancient 
Attica; or to stroll along the banks of the Tiber, whose glossy 
surface once reflected the image of the proudest city of the 
world; or to saunter through the Forum of Rome, with its 
Porticos and Basilicas, arranged in the gorgeousness of archi- 
tectural splendor. But then I should have been compelled to 
tell you, what you well know, that desolation has long since 
erected her sable banner upon the ruins of these mighty mon- 
uments of human greatness and human vanity. I might have 
examined the social and political structure of these ancient 
Republics, and trace step by step, the process by which, vice, 
luxury and ignorance wrought their total overthrow. Nor 
would the exercise have been without its lessons of instruc- 
tion. As we passed along in our musings, we might have 
paused to pay a tribute to the poetry of Sappho, Sophocles, 
Euripides and Virgil; the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle; 
the chisel of Phidias; the pencils of Appelles and Zeuxis; and 
the overpowering eloquence of Demosthenes and Cicero. — 
But all this I have purposely avoided, preferring rather to 
forego the transitory eclat of such a performance, in the hope 
that I might draw your minds to the contemplation of a sub- 
ject of vast practical importance, full of interest to this Repub- 
lic, and pregnant with the destiny of unborn generations. I 
have considered the probable destiny of our country in the 
light of the past and the indications of Providence; what is 
necessary for the fulfilment of that destiny, and the duty of 
Georgia in the premises. I have endeavored to show thd:t it 
is the design of Providence that this Continent shall be the 
broad theatre on which are to be realised the blessings of the 
highest civilization and the happiest manifestations of the 
social state; that this bright consummation is to be achieved 
through the agency of our Republican institutions; that public 
education and morality are the potent auxiliaries to be employ- 
ed; and that, in fidelity to her sister States, to her Constitu- 
tion, to her people, and to posterity, it is the duty of Georgia, 
by the immediate organization of an enlarged and liberal sys- 
tem of Common School education, to perform her part of this 
gloriousenterpriseof human freedom and human elevation. 

Here, then, you have before you a wide field of labor, wor- 
thy your noblest powers and untiring energies, " already white 
for the harvest;" and the course of study which you have 
pursued and are pursuing in this University, eminently quali- 
fies you for the noble engagement. In the study of Mathe- 
matics, Logic and Criticism, you have learned the principles 



37 

of physical and moral reasoning; and you are prepared to ex- 
pose error, combat false theories, and defend the citadel of 
truth. The Ancient Classics have given you a knowledge of 
the power of language and the events of the past. Your 
Chemistry has taught you the elements of matter, the laws 
which govern their affinities and preside over their combina- 
tion, the analysis of the atmosphere, the natures and proper- 
ties of earths, the sources of their fertility and the method of 
their improvement. Your Philosophy has introduced you to 
Nature in her sublimest phenomena, has led you through the 
starry firmament, explained the magnitudes, densities, orbits, 
velocities, distances and relationships of those immense worlds 
which roll in grandeur through the fields of illimitable space. 
Guided by the lamp of Natural History, you have explored her 
vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms. Pohtical Economy 
has made you acquainted with the sources of national wealth 
and the proper subjects and modes of its application; and In- 
ternational Law has unfolded the duties and relationships of 
States and Nations. Metaphysics and Ethics have turned 
your thoughts inward upon the operation and powers of your 
own minds, and taught you your moral duties as rational and 
accountable beings. Above all, day by day your accomplish- 
ed and pious preceptors, in the solicitude of parental tender- 
ness, have expounded the Scriptures of Eternal Truth, en- 
forced upon your consciences their doctrines and duties, and 
invited you, through the Great Atonement, to accept their 
glorious promises and everlasting rewards. Henceforth, 
young gentlemen, you take your position in the world, in the 
ranks of the educated men of our country, clothed with their 
solemn responsibilities. Devote your energies, your talents 
and these rich acquirements of knowledge, to the elevation of 
your native State, in all that is elegant in literature, valuable 
in the arts and sciences, and attractive in pure morality and 
undefiled religion. 

I have spoken of a system of Common Schools, as the most ef- 
ficient and proper means of promoting general intelligence among 
the people. But as pubUc morality is as indispensable as edu- 
cation to the permanence of our republic and the accomplish- 
ment of the glorious destiny which it contemplates, it is evi- 
dent that the means of cultivating the heart, must accompany 
those of enlightening the mind. To blend successfully these 
influences in the education of youth, is ever a task of extreme 
delicacy; and it is readily perceived that, with our long-cher- 
ished and wholesome opposition to the union of political and 
ecclesiastical power, in organizing such a system, it would be 
a subject of grave embarrassment, to fix the limit of moral in- 
struction as part of the system itself. The Bible of course 



38 

would be [jrescribcd us an appendage to every school. It 
contains the most ancient and beautiiul literature, the most 
fervid and impassioned poetry, the purest and most elevated 
morality, the grandest and most sublime philosophy; and its 
principles are the surest guide for the legislator and statesman. 
To it the world is mdebted I'or all that is valuable in science, 
in civil liberty, in social order, and enlightened civilization.* 
But as a school book, whilst its daily study could not fail to 
produce happy results, still it would not imbue the heart of 
the pupil with its spirit and form his character in its Heavenly 
mould, unless its doctrines be explained and its precepts en- 
forced by appeals to the conscience. On this point no 
definite course could be prescribed in a system of Common 
School Education. To remedy this necessary imperfection, 
presents you a beautiful and interesting field of usefulness. It 
is to throw the whole w^eight of your character, talents and 
influence in favor of all those auxiliaries, which have for their 
object the promotion of morality and the diffusion of rehgious 
knowledge among the people. For this purpose cherish with 
zeal the distribution of religious books, pamphlets and tracts. 
Never turn a cold look of indifference upon the worthy colpor- 
teur; give him a cordial welcome; countenance and sustain 
him. For you may rest assured he scatters blessings in his 
path and light to illumine the minds of the people. Lavish 
your generosity in sustaining the Gospel; open wide your 
hospitality to its ministers; entertain its wayfaring itinerants; 
and if they come covered with dust, or drenched with rain, or 
clad in the attire of poverty, for that very reason let your wel- 
come be the more cordial. For these are the men who, almost 
without reward, go into the by-ways and the hedges and scat- 
ter broad-cast among the poor, the bread of eternal life. Pro- 
mote, assiduously, the establishment of Sabbath Schools. They 
are the nurseries of youthful piety, where are laid the solid 
foundations of elevated character and useful citizenship. It is 
the rarest thing to find a bad man in community, who received 
in childhood faithful, systematic Sabbath school instruction. — 
The tracks that are made by the footman, as he strolls along 
the sandy beach, are swept away by the first flow of the tide. 
The inscription that is carved upon the bark of the forest tree, 
by the idler who saunters among its recesses, is soon effaced 
by the hand of time. Bat the impressions made on the un- 
stained tablet of childhood's intellect, are as permanent and 
enduring as the immortal essence that receives them. The 
cause of Temperance, too, is worthy the support of every 
patriot and christian, and should challenge your firm, steady 

*"Tlie Obligations of the World to the Bible, by Dr. Spring," is ncainnipndcd 
to your dilii'i'ni pi-nisnl. 



39 

and ablest advocacy. It is the cause oi the widow and or- 
phan; it is the cause of social order and domestic trancjuillity; 
it is the cause of your country and your God. These are the 
concomitants which must attend a system of Common Schools. 
Let the State furnish the one, and the philanthropy, benevo- 
lence, patriotism and piety of her people will furnish the other. 

Whether you engage in commerce, or the more noiseless, but 
absorbing pursuit of agriculture; whether you pursue the pro- 
fession of law or medicine; whether you choose the slippery 
path of politics or ascend the sacred desk, these duties are 
obligatory upon you; they attach to you in your character of 
citizen, and you cannot shrink from their discharge with im- 
punity. But in their performance you may expect often to 
meet with discouragements. You will be jeered at by the 
thoughtless, contemned by the ignorant, denounced by the 
vicious; and the selfish demagogue and heartless hypocrite 
will smile in your face and behind your back seek to wrest 
your zeal in the advocacy of virtue to your utter prostration. 
But be not dismayed; the consciousness of the rectitude of 
your intentions, will convert every public disappointment into 
a private blessing, and impart to you a self-possession and 
complacency, infinitely more valuable than the hosannas of 
the multitude. 

In glancing on the bright catalogue of distinguished person- 
ages whose labors in the cause of education, rehgion and be- 
nevolence have endeared their memories to the grateful affec- 
tions of the patriot, the christian and the philanthropist, this 
occasion and this place forcibly suggest the name of one whose 
illustrious example is worthy your emulation. His career 
commenced almost with that of Georgia herself; he mingled 
in the Convention that remodeled and reformed her Constitu- 
tion,* and his services as a minister of the Gospel, hke the 
sunshine of noon, spread their blessings over almost her entire 
surface. In him the cause of Missions, of Sabbath Schools and 
of Temperance had an able, firm, consistent and zealous advo- 
cate, and for their promotion he lavished most ample and liber- 
al donations. f His fame is interwoven in the history of Geor- 
gia, is identified with that large and respectable branch of the 
Christian Church, of which, he was alike a pillar and an orna- 
ment; and while this growing University shall stand, his name 
shall be perpetuated by a nobler monument than was ever 
reared to the memory of the victorious hero of a thousand 
bloody battles. However imperfect the sketch, you will not 
fail to recognise in the model I ofier for your imitation, the 
portrait of the venerated and sainted Mercer. 

* Vid. Mallary's Memoirs of Jesse Mercer, p. 100. 
tVid. ibid, Chap. XI, pp. 236 to 245. 



ERRATA. 

In the 18th line from the top of page 3d, read teein for 
"team." 

In the 17th hnc from the top of page 5th, read thirty for 
"twenty-nine.'' 

In last hne of note on page 23d, read Democratic iov "Do- 
mestic." 

In the od and 0th lines from bottom of page 30th, read one 
fhirteenth for "one thirtieth." 

In last line of page 31st, read 1838 for "1833." 

In 2nd line from bottom of page 32nd, read Lastlij for 
"Last, b}'." 

In the 13th line from top of page 34th, read /'a^«e?ice for 
"practice." 



%^^ -^^#1=^^ ^44^ 




T 



m m^w&m 



BEFORE THE 



SiiliiillH^^ 



MERCER UNIVERSITY; 

DELIVERED ON THE 14tH OF JL'LY, A D 1847 

BY 
IICRSCIICJL V. JOHIWSOIV, 

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE CICERONIAN SOCIETV, 



PENFIELD. 

PRIMTED AT THE BANNER OEEICE. 

1847. 



JL 



f 






-^4#fr^^ 




LfiAg'09 



